Medical Billing Blog with Medical Billing & Coding Info & Articles
Our blog contains news and articles relating to numerous healthcare sectors including revenue cycle management, medical billing, medical coding, ICD, HIPAA, practice management functions and more.
Telemedicine and Coding for Remote Blood Pressure Monitoring
Telemedicine has grown rapidly because it allows the remote delivery of healthcare services during the pandemic. Telemedicine tends to lower healthcare costs, expand the patient database, and offer flexible working conditions for physicians and health care providers. It reduces physical office hours and saves overhead costs, like payroll for hourly employees, utilities, and other various expenses associated with an office being open. Remote Patient Monitoring is a key component of Telemedicine. It allows the physician and the patient’s care team to get real-time data thereby enabling communication without an in-person appointment. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) introduced new Current Procedural Terminology codes for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) …
Medical Billing vs Medical Coding, What’s the Difference?
Medical coding and medical billing are two of the reimbursement systems within the healthcare organization. The professionals who perform these tasks are known as medical coders and medical billers, respectively. The work of medical coders and medical billers is to analyze medical treatments received by patients while at a healthcare facility to coordinate payments from insurance companies and patients. In this article, we will discuss the difference between medical coding and medical billing. However, it is important to have a brief understanding of what medical coding and medical billing entail. What is Medical Coding? Medical coding is a way of converting healthcare diagnosis, procedures, medical services, and equipment into universal …
Flu Season is Nearly Upon Us… Medical Coding for Influenza Vaccine
Since Flu season is rapidly approaching, we decided to take a look at the medical codes that are utilized for billing of vaccine shots. First of all, what exactly is the Flu? Flu is short for Influenza, which is a contagious respiratory disease caused by the Influenza virus. Influenza virus infects the nose, throat, and in a rare condition the lungs. The symptoms can be mild to severe. The most common influenza symptoms include high fever, sore throat, headache, coughing, runny nose, muscle and joint pain, and fatigue (body weakness). This virus generally occurs during the winter months. Influenza is a serious health condition that can lead to pneumonia. …
COVID-19 and the Family Practice Provider
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic system has certainly been negatively affected. As covid-19 continues its exponential growth across the world, it has taken a financial hit on all businesses, including the health care systems. The Coronavirus outbreak affects Schools, Universities, Cinemas, Concert halls, Theaters, Pubs, Restaurant, Shopping malls and other small businesses. Many People have lost their jobs and shops have closed down as a result of this pandemic. Many people find themselves in isolation with their family or being completely alone. Many People are lonely, afraid and depressed. This novel Coronavirus has been a source of catastrophic social and economic crisis. People now make use …
Telemedicine Since the Coronavirus Pandemic
Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, the health care system has had to rethink how to deliver care and one of the most remarkable ways to care for people’s health is with the use of telemedicine. Telemedicine is known as the remote delivery of healthcare services. Telemedicine has been in existence for years now but, it is historically only used to reach patients in remote areas. However, with the rapid changes in technology in the last decades, telemedicine has transformed into complex integrated services used in hospitals, private physician offices, homes, and other healthcare facilities. Telemedicine was originally developed by health professionals as a way to treat patients living in rural …
ICD Code Classifications for COVID-19
At the time I am writing this article, the U.S. has confirmed over 4.2 million cases of COVID-19 and 144,000 deaths nationwide, and as the threat of Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to seemingly increase daily, The World Health Organization had to develop codes for classification of Covid-19 cases. The World Health Organization Family of International Classifications (WHOFIC) Network Classification and Statistics Advisory Committee (CSAC) had an emergency meeting on 31st of January 2020 to discuss the creation of a specific code for the new coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). World Health Organization (WHO) has established a new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) emergency code (U07.1, 2019-nCov acute respiratory disease). The virus …
Tips for Recouping Lost Revenue From COVID-19 Pandemic
Craig Adkins of AdvancedMD gives HealthIT Answers some tips of how to recoup some of the revenue lost during the pandemic in this article mention. “The past few months of the pandemic have brought many challenges to physician practices, especially small, independent providers operating outside the domains of COVID-19 treatment. While mandatory shutdowns and quarantines have slowed the spread of the virus, the economic impact has been substantial. Fewer outpatient visits—and even fewer procedures—over the past several months have led to serious financial hardship for many providers. Practices that will stay afloat during this challenging time are doing so strategically. In some cases, practices planned for a “rainy day” and …
EHR Training and Experience Lead to Decreased EHR Use by Residents
Are you satisfied with your EHR? Do you spend 40% of your day in your EHR? Research shows that some physicians do.. “Physicians at large community hospitals spend nearly four hours during work hours, or roughly 40 percent of their day, on the EHR, according to a study published in the Public Library of Science (PLOS ONE). Additionally, researchers found a significant decrease in resident EHR use with increased training and experience, although the overall amount of time spent on the EHR remained high. “Studies exploring EHR use emphasized extensive time as one of the significant drawbacks to EHR,” wrote the study authors. “It has been reported that physicians …
Recent Implementation of a New Set of COVID-19 Dataset Codes
Information from EHR Intelligence… “There will now be over 150 new LOINC dataset codes that are linked to COVID-19. Health IT professionals at Regenstrief Institute have added new COVID-19 standardized codes for laboratory testing and clinical observations to the Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) dataset. LOINC aims to streamline health data standardization for more efficient EHR use and health data exchange, which is key when a pandemic such as COVID-19 occurs. As one of the most widely-used code systems, LOINC seeks to provide standardization in medical test result identification, observations, and a variety of other clinical measures. LOINC promotes interoperability with new terms for tests and clinical observations …
How Do We Improve Data Collection and Exchange Following COVID-19?
How Do We Improve Data Collection and Exchange Following COVID-19? Christopher Jason answers this question in an article at EHR Intelligence. Reducing measurement burden, addressing the lag in reporting data quality, and improving data standardization will be key to boosting clinical quality measurement, according to a recent journal article published in JAMA Network. “There is a lack of information that would help clinicians improve care delivery in the moment and learn for the future,” J. Matthew Austin, PhD, and Allen Kachalia, MD, wrote in the article. “This situation highlights how the current approach to quality and safety measurement remains too labor intensive, contains significant data lags, and lacks sufficient …
